Noc is just looking for someone to talk to …

A Beluga whale called Noc has learned to use its nasal cavities to mimic the human voice, according to its handlers at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego.

This would be impressive and bizarre for any animal, but the fact that whales don’t even have vocal chords make Noc’s human voice even more astounding. Don’t just take our word for it, check out the video of Noc talking.

Although this amazing story has only just come to light, after being published in the Current Biology journal this week, Noc has been talking like a human since the 1980s, according to staff at the Foundation.

His warbling sounds a little like two people having a conversation far away, but he has also been known to raise his voice at staff members. Once, a diver who entered his tank quickly rose to the surface asking ‘who told me to get out?’ It merged that he had heard what sounded like a human voice shouting ‘out’ at him repeatedly. It seems Noc wasn’t in the mood for visitors that day!

His dedicated handlers have not been put off by his mood swings and insist his human-like sounds are an attempt to mimic those around him. Researchers believe he makes the sounds by cleverly adjusting the pressure in nasal cavities to make a sound much lower than regular whale sounds.